Strayer Voigt Infinity Ltd 6" - Western Arms

We've all read those e-mails...
Promises of extra length, greater satisfaction, more power. They started to get to me...
Sure I'd never actually been disappointed and many people would envy what I already had. Even the 'real men' nodded sagely and agreed I had the right equipment, but still I felt I needed a little more...
There was nothing else for it, so I posted an ad asking if anyone would be prepared to swap my WA SV Infinity Ltd 5" for a 6" and someone was!
The question was, would that extra inch deliver the promised extra satisfaction?

In the Box

My Infinity 6" wasn't new either and it seems accessories commonly go astray, but I did get a complete loading tool and a manual (Hooray!). So, I still only have one trigger (no biggy, but it'd be fun to try the other shapes) and have to rely on non-WA tools should I ever want to adjust the Hop-Up (equally, no major problem).

What was important about the plain tan box that arrived in the post was the Strayer Voigt Infinity Ltd 6" I craved.

First Impressions

The gun was in excellent condition externally, with just (as had been described) slight wear on the grip safety, which is inevitable. The rest of the gun, though, appeared pristine and the overall appearance of the gun was very good, with lots of metal parts and a nice close fit between all the parts.

External metal parts include front dust cover, rear Bomar sight (fixed front blade molded into slide on the 6", not the dovetailed metal blade on the 5"), hammer, grip safety, mag release, slide lock, safety (not ambidextrous on this gun, but it seems someone removed it as the 6" Ltd SHOULD have one), outer barrel, recoil guide and the 30 round, silver, magazine. Noticeable, also, was the fact that the 6" has a magwell, which the 5" doesn't.

The gun is clearly bigger than the 5" (It's a little OVER an inch longer than my 3.9" Prokiller, which is built on the 5" Ltd Frame), but to my eyes is better balanced and more elegant as a shape. It's (as DumboRAT had observed) slightly muzzle heavy, but not uncomfortable so and the balance is very good, meaning it doesn't feel heavy, just solid, in the hand. I'm left handed and it posed no special problems for me.

As with the 5" (which, longer barrel and magwell aside, it seems identical to) the heavyweight slide material doesn't look like metal, but it does look remarkably blemish free and seems resistant to normal wear and tear.

Closer Look

The Infinity is based upon the trusty Colt 1911, but much has been changed.

The grip is widened to accommodate a 'double stack' of rounds (giving a massive 30 round capacity in 6mm BB form) and doesn't form part of the frame (as it does on a 1911/1991), but rather is a separate plastic moulding (Polymer in gun marketing speak) as on the real SVs. The bushing which normally holds the barrel in, is replaced by a mechanism much closer to a Browning Hi-Power (although the Infinity has a recoil guide rod, like a Beretta).

Shooting Impressions

This is now my 3rd WA gun, so I was expecting power and accuracy and I got it. I also got a noticeable increase in kick. Just plinking at cans, in my loft, I hit every time at 4-5 metres.

I carried out my standard 5m test, with 6 rounds, without any practice shots (which I've done with the other guns, just to get a feel).

Click on image for bigger version in separate window.

Using .25g BBs and AE Winter Gas at around 20 degrees C, all 6 rounds (those marked with a circle) were on target, although, not as tightly grouped as with the 5" or Prokiller.
I put this down to a need to really grip this gun as the first couple of shots are the highest and second highest, respectively. The kick is real, and most reminded me of my experience firing a .44 magnum revolver, which after firing a .38 and a 9mm needed a firm hand. Even after the 5" Ltd, the 6" DOES need mastering.
I decided, though to stick with this set of shots for my official test results. All the rounds were within a 4 inch (10 cm) diameter, with the last 4 falling in a 2.5 inch (6.5 cm) diameter and 3 of those spanning just 1 inch (2.5 cm).

I decided to fill up the magazine and just fire away. The image below shows what the 6" Ltd can do to a paper target at 5m with 30 (The marked hits were a separate test of another gun) rounds. All 30 rounds are within 4 inches (11 cm) and the vast majority just tore one big hole just above the bullseye.

Perhaps more remarkable than the ultimate accuracy is the consistency, but there's little reason to believe the ultimate accuracy isn't, at least, on a par with the 5".

UPDATE May 2004 : My 6" Ltd is one of the permanent fixtures in my ever changing collection, so I still had it when I purchased a Chronograph.

I had always imagined the 6" Ltd was powerful, but even I was a little surprised when it averaged 336 fps with .2g BBs on Winter gas at around 20C.

I was able to carry out a trigger pull weight test on my newer SVI Ltd 6" and it produce a figure of 1,030g (36.3 ounces), which is a medium-heavy weight trigger pull.

Conclusions

Size does matter, it seems.
No doubt the 5" Ltd is a more manageable gun for skirmishing (which is why the 6's previous owner was prepared to swap - He also mentioned he had 6 OTHER Infinity variants...), but there's more of a sense of 'specialness' to firing the big 6" and I'm glad I went the extra inch... I, personally, also like the long barrelled look and feel it balances the gun up better (the shorter the barrel, I think, the worse it looks, but I understand others feel differently).

In my review of the 5", I said "It seems there's a lot of truth in the "WA - Ferrari of the Airsoft world" cliche." - If so, this, for me, is the F40 - the cream of the crop...
More power, more of a challenge to master and more WOW!

Weight : 1190g

Realism : *****
Quality : ****
Power : ****
Accuracy : *****

Real Steel link at World Guns
Strayer Voigt's website